I finally met the person I plan to grow old with. Frank and I are engaged! The proposal was simple and unexpected. Since then I feel like I’ve been repeating myself over and over again. So I thought, let me write a blog post about our special night and what we plan to do for our wedding, or should I say destination weddings! But first, let me share the short and quick version on how we met.

Untraditional Introduction

I’ll keep this short, because in all reality, it was fast and meant to be. We met on eHarmony, that’s right, a dating website. Neither one of us was on a mission to find marriage, we just wanted to meet someone that we could connect with. The truth is, I was not very active on the website, and I only signed up for a 3 month membership. The membership was about to auto-renew and I wanted to cancel, so I logged in to do just that. But then I received a message from Frank that very night and we communicated most of that evening and the rest of the week. He was actually in Venice, Italy when he reached out. He asked me out for dinner and I accepted.

Our first date will always be memorable. We met for dinner and drinks and we realized that we had so much in common. From our childhood upbringing to adult experiences. He loves to travel, I love to travel. He likes to explore different cultures and food and I love to experience different culture and foods. It was like we’ve known each other all our lives. But the moment I knew he was the perfect man for me was when I got sick the following week after we met. I caught a really bad cold and had to cancel our plans, but he showed up at my door with grocery bags to make homemade chicken soup and took care of me. That was the moment I knew he was the one. Since then, we’ve been traveling and exploring the world with our three golden retrievers and one calico cat.

Palacio Postal, Mexico City

The Proposal

Three years later, he proposed on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2018. The proposal happened while we were having dinner at Catal Restaurant, in Downtown Disney. He wasn’t planning on proposing that evening, but he happened to have the ring on him since he just got back from showing it to one of his vendors at work. From what he told me, he’s been contemplating different ways to propose, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it since I’m not a very traditional type of gal. It even got to the point where he wanted to rent drones to capture the moment. His ideas were getting out of hand and he was anxious and stressed that it wouldn’t play out right. It never seemed to be the right moment, until that evening. As we sat across from each other surrounded roses and candlelight on Catal’s balcony, he thought to himself, why not tonight? Why wait, when he can just let it happen naturally. It happened during a perfect moment when a photographer was walking from table to table taking photos of couples. As soon as the photographer came over to our table to take a photo, Frank took that opportunity to capture what he was about to ask…”Will you be my forever Valentine?”. I said YES!

Seven Destination Weddings in Seven Continents

So here’s the part most friends and family want to know, the wedding plans. Being that I am not a traditional type of gal, I decided that I do not want a big wedding that will stress me out, all for one day. That’s a pretty big expense for one party that I will most likely not completely enjoy because I will be busy checking to see if everyone else is enjoying it. Instead, I prefer to spend our money on beautiful memories. I ran the idea by Frank that I would like to elope somewhere exotic where we could get married and then enjoy our honeymoon, just him and I. His idea, let’s get married 7 times in 7 continents.

What does that mean exactly? Let me break it down for you, as I’m sure you have questions.

Q. You mean you’re getting married seven times?

A. Since Frank and I take one big vacation every year, our plan is to choose a destination to get married in each continent.

Q. Are you planning to do all seven weddings at once?

A. C’mon now, the whole point of this is to not stress. We plan to pick a destination every year or other year, depending on the destination. So we’re possibly looking at 7 or more years.

Q. What are the seven continents again?

A. Yes, people ask that. So you don’t have to Google it, here it is:

North America

South America

Europe

Australia

Asia

Africa

Antarctica

Q. Are you really planning to go to Antarctica?

A. Yes, we are. We haven’t figured out how to get there, but we will make it happen.

Q. When’s and where is the first one?

A. So obviously we have to make it legal first, so our official vows will take place next year. We are currently deciding between local city hall, like Pasadena City Hall or Santa Barbara City Hall. My heart is aiming for Santa Barbara, so we could make a romantic weekend getaway. Shortly after that, our first wedding destination will be Mexico.

Q. Have you decided where in Mexico?

A. Currently we are looking at San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Why there? Because we were both born in Mexico and we feel it would be amazing to get married in our country of birth. Not to mention, San Miguel de Allende is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico. Its attractive and cosmopolitan appearance makes it one of the favorite destinations for art enthusiasts. If you been, you’ll know why.

Q. Have you decided the destinations for all the other continents?

A. Kinda, but at the moment, we want to plan one wedding at a time.

Q. Are you wearing a wedding dress?

A. Possibly. What I’m currently envisioning is wearing each culture’s customary wedding dress. So for Mexico, I will wear a simple Mexican lace dress and Frank will be wearing a charro suit. That’s right, we’re going all out! I may not be traditional, but you can’t deny the photos will be gorgeous!

Q. Am I invited?

A. No. (LOL!) Actually no one is. Not even my family or his. This is an adventure exclusively for us. Its about creating magical memories between us. At the end of the day, that’s what a marriage is about. Just him and I.

Q. Are you going to share photos on social media?

A. I sure am. You’ll see them as it happens. Depending on the destination and if they have WiFi, I may even share the experience LIVE. But we’ll see.

Until then, I’ll keep you posted. Right now, I’m enjoying being engaged to the most amazing man I know. He truly makes me happy and I’m lucky to have a man who loves me as much as I love him. Let the journey begin.

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ABOUT ME

Hi, my name is Lala Castro and I take pictures of my food and travel adventures (also, my friends pitch in). I love different foods from all over the world and enjoy it with a glass of wine. All though I'm a foodie, I'm also a passionate geek at heart. In fact, sometimes you'll see me covering tech segments on TV!